


Breathe

by brainfagged



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, jooki, kiheon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-07 23:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15918582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brainfagged/pseuds/brainfagged
Summary: It’s deep into the night, and Kihyun couldn't breathe.





	Breathe

Jooheon was sprawled on his stomach, left arm dangling off the edge of the mattress and snoring lightly on the queen sized bed.  
  
The distant sound of coughing, wheezing and gasping pulled Jooheon from his slumber. His dark eyes snapped open and he instinctively turned to his side, his sleepy eyes stared thoughtfully at the form lying beside him. He waited to see if the unsettling sound had come from the person he was sharing the bed with.  
  
Another strangled cough echoed through the room and Jooheon quickly rose from his position, sitting up on the bed."Kihyun-hyung…?" He called out softly, reaching over to the side to turn on the lamp on the bedside table.  


  
No reply.

Another cough followed by a wheeze, pierced through the silence.  
  
Kihyun was lying on his side, facing the wall with his back facing Jooheon. He could clearly see that the older boy's body was trembling in an odd fashion. His brows knotted in an anxious frown, "Kihyun-hyung?" he called out again, suddenly feeling nervous. _Something was definitely wrong._  
  
Placing a hand on Kihyun's arm, he gently turned the boy to his side, so Kihyun would face him.  
  
What he saw when Kihyun was turned to his side gave him an instant unsettling feeling. Kihyun was pale—really, really pale. His face glistened with sweat and his colorless lips gasped for air that just wouldn't come through.

_What the hell?_ Only one thing popped into his mind when he tried to come up with a logical reason to what was currently happening to Kihyun.

Acting purely on instinct, he pulled Kihyun closer to him. "Breathe with me, hyung, slow and steady breaths just like me." He easily managed to pull Kihyun up into a propped up position, knowing that he'd breathe easier sitting up  
  
"Kihyun-hyung! I-Is it... your asthma?" Jooheon remembered that as a child, Kihyun had asthma. But like a lot of other kids who suffered asthma in their childhood, he grew out of it. He never had any serious problems with it since. Well, maybe except for that one time, years ago when they were participants on No Mercy. That incident almost damned gave everyone a heart attack. But since that one incident, as far as Jooheon could remember, Kihyun had been fine. He had never witnessed the vocalist deal with another episode of an asthma attack since.  
  
"Where's your puffer thing?" The specific word for it was somewhere in his muddled head, but he just couldn't quite find the exact word.  
  
"In... inha...ler." Kihyun managed to wheeze out to correct him.  
  
"Yeah, that. Where is it?" He was about ready to sprint out of their shared bed to turn the room upside down, in the quest for the little blue plastic bugger.  
  
Kihyun sluggishly stretched his arm out, pointing toward the general direction beside their bed. He wanted to say something, but his chest was so tight and he was too busy trying to pull air into his starving lungs.  
  
Wasting no time, Jooheon moved to look for the inhaler. He tried the bed stand drawer first, but Kihyun waved a hand lethargically, indicating that it was not there. Jooheon shot him a puzzled look—he was panicking. _Where the hell is_ _it then?_ His head instinctively scanned the surrounding area and his eyes caught the of sight a blue plastic object on the floor. He scrambled to retrieve it and rushed back to the distressed boy’s side in a split second.  
  
Kihyun coughed as he tried to inhale the much-needed air and clear his throat at the same time, but he ended up choking and coughing even more.  
  
Jooheon watched Kihyun intently, waiting and hoping for the medicine to take effect. "Better?" he questioned anxiously while his hand rubbed comforting circles in between Kihyun's shoulder blades, trying to soothe him. But Kihyun didn't reply. He wasn’t able to. His breaths still came in thin wheezes and his chest was still making disturbing whistling sounds.  
  
 _1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10..._  
  
"Here! Here! Hyung! Here you go! Here you go!" Jooheon guided the inhaler to Kihyun's lips, assisting the other boy's clumsy weak fingers to push down on the inhaler, releasing the medicine into his struggling lungs. Kihyun lets his head fall back against the headboard and held his breath, eyes closed, allowing what little medicine he received to flow deeply into his lungseven more, the wheezing sound more pronounced than before. Another wave of panic washed over Jooheon when he realized that Kihyun was still working hard to breathe. His lips were now tinged with blue. "Take another puff!" Jooheon once again placed the inhaler in front of Kihyun's lips, eyes pleading for him to take another puff of the inhaler. But this time Kihyun turned his face away from the inhaler.  
  
"What the fuck Kihyun-hyung!" He snapped. Worry had long turned into silent panic, but now the panic slowly building into frustration and fear. "Take another damned shot of your inhaler! What's wrong with you?" He tried to keep his voice down but failed. He was just so damned scared that Kihyun would stop breathing altogether.  
  
"I-…F...fi...nished... no… more…"  
  
"What? No!" He looked wide-eyed at the inhaler in his hand as if expecting for some sort of answer from the object. He shook the inhaler vigorously, trying to feel if there were any content left at all. "Damn it!" He hissed, tossing the inhaler angrily to the floor. _What do I do now! What do I do now! Stay calm! I need to stay calm!_  
  
He took a deep stuttering breath, trying to calm himself down and get his panic at a manageable level. Knowing full well that his panicking would only lead Kihyun to panic as well; making it only even more difficult for him to breathe.  
  
"Okay. It's okay... you're okay Kihyun-hyung..." Jooheon said calmly as he rubs the older boy’s back, trying to convince the both of them that everything was under control.

The truth was he doesn't know if things were really under control. Kihyun was still wheezing and gasping for air and Jooheon was scared shitless that the situation might get any worse.  
  
"I think you need the hospital" _Best damned idea he had all night, Jooheon_. But before he could move to look for his cell phone, a small hand tugged at him, stopping him in his track. "S-stay..." The tattered voice requested.  
  
"But hyung..." Jooheon wanted to flat out ignore and decline on the request, but he couldn't do it. Not when Kihyun’s eyes were all glazed up, looking like a little puppy; pleading and vulnerable. When Kihyun had told him to stay, there was so much more to it than that.  
  
"G-give it... some...time...if it doesn't-" Kihyun struggled with every word said and Jooheon cut him off so Kihyun could save his breath.  
  
"Okay. Okay, okay..." He lowered himself next to Kihyun once again, pulling the smaller framed boy into his arms gently, careful not to restrict Kihyun's breathing any further.  
  
Five minutes at most. That was it. If Kihyun wasn't getting any better, he was definitely calling the ambulance. But in the meantime, he was determined to stay close and help the older boy through it.  
  
"Kihyun-hyung… C'mon! Look at me...You need to calm down and breathe." His voice was firm but soft, willing the other boy to breathe. He continued to murmur soft reassurances as his hand slid up the slender sweat-slicked back, caressing gently and encouraging him that everything is alright.  
  
Kihyun complied and glanced up at the younger, feeling himself calm down somewhat. The voice was soft and soothing, coaxing him to calm down, to breathe. His heavy chest slowly felt a little lighter, he was finally able to take in bigger breaths; just enough to settle his oxygen-deprived lungs.  
  
Jooheon took notice on Kihyun's improvement. His breathing was still wheezy, but it wasn't as noisy and disturbing as it had been just  moments ago, he could feel Kihyun's body slowly became less tensed and he took comfort in that. "That's it hyung, that's it..." He cooed quietly in Kihyun's ear. "Just breathe. You're okay now."  
  
Seeing that Kihyun had quietened somewhat, Jooheon decided that it was time to poke at the subject. "Does this happen often?" His voice remained in a soft demeanor, but there was an unmistakable tone of concern in it.  
  
Kihyun nodded slightly as a reply. "Not bad as this one though." He admitted, seeing no point in hiding the truth. "I usually got it under control, it doesn't even affect me and my daily activities, and nobody even knew… or remembered that I have asthma." He let out a single cough at the end of his sentence.  
  
Jooheon frowned at that, feeling guilty that he hadn't even noticed what was going with Kihyun all these while.  
  
"The doctor thinks it's the weather, it triggered my asthma."  
  
Jooheon nodded in understanding, the weather had been quite a bitch for the past months. Spring that year was definitely one of the worst he had experienced. It a lot warmer than usual, humidity was extreme and the fine dust pollution was alarmingly bad. None of those good for respiratory health; no wonder it had triggered  
the asthma.  
  
 _Global warming. Definitely gotta stop it._  
  
"I'm sorry hyung. I didn't know, didn't even notice that you've been having these episodes." He realized that they hadn't really been spending their time alone together for months. Even though they were pretty much together most of the time, in all honesty, he hadn’t been paying much attention to Kihyun. He had always been busy with this and that. Busy with everything and everyone else except for _his_ Kihyun.  
  
"It's okay..." Kihyun answered, voice just above a whisper, sounding somewhat defeated.  
  
"No. It's not okay hyung! I...I... could have lost you." He pulled back slightly to look at Kihyun's beautiful, yet handsome face, grateful to see that his face had regained some color, his lips no longer pale. "I can't, and I don't want to lose you... ever." He gazed deep into Kihyuns's eyes, baring the sincerity of his heart. Before he knew it, his lips were gently brushing on Kihyun's.  
  
Kihyun gasped lightly when their lips came in contact. A part of him wanted to pull away, but electricity sparked between them the moment their lips touched, he couldn't resist it, he returned the kiss, enjoying the sensation lingering on his lips. He missed it. He missed being with Jooheon so damned much. He missed the sense of security and comfort he always felt whenever they were together. Now that everything that he had been longing for was there right in front of him, he couldn't just let it go.  
  
Jooheon was about to deepen the kisseven more when the image of Kihyun coughing and gasping for air flashed across his mind. _Kihyun needs to breathe! What am I doing stealing more breaths from him!_ With that thought, he gently pulled away, reluctantly breaking the kiss-- leaving Kihyun slightly breathless and taken aback at the sudden retreat

Kihyun frowned inwardly, feeling slightly unwanted when their lips parted. He hated the feeling.  
  
Jooheon studied Kihyun's features, he realized that those eyes held so much love, pain, hope, lust, and fear for him. He wanted so much to press his lips against those pretty lips again but he was too scared to risk it. Not after what he witnessed not too long ago.  
  
"Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that… gotta wait at least until when you feel better." He flashed Kihyun a big smile, brushing the older boy's cheek with his thumb.  
  
"It's...okay...I feel much better now... thanks to you." He blushed at his own words, enjoying Jooheon's thumb stroking at his cheek. The younger then pulled him closer into a hug. It felt good to be the one to comfort and take care of the Kihyun once in a while.  
  
The two gathered in the middle of their bed, Jooheon's arms wrapped around Kihyun's slender body protectively while Kihyun had his head rested against Jooeon's chest, feeling comfortable and content, but undeniably tired after the ordeal he faced earlier. His eyes were slowly drooping against his will. He wanted to enjoy the moment longer, not knowing if a moment like this will ever come again anytime soon—or at all. The steady comfort of Jooheon's heartbeat lulled him and he could no longer fight the sleep that came to claim him.  
  
A big, dimpled smile tugged on Jooheon's face as he watched Kihyun stubbornly fought the battle with sleep and lost. _My Kihyunnie is always so stubborn_. He chuckled lightly. At that moment he realized that he hadn't felt that way in such a long time. And tonight, despite what happened, he felt truly complete, and he knew who to thank for that. “Kihyun-hyung... I love you…good night..." He whispered, determined to stay awake to watch over his sleeping lover.

~FIN :)

  


**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a fic that I wrote nine years ago with different characters.  
> Changed and added some parts, changed the characters and decided to dump the fic on this site. :)  
> Since it was an old work of mine, I thought it'd be okay to give it a new breath of life to it with different characters and share it.


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